Pilates

The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Reebok. As always all opinions are my own.

I’ve been teaching since I was 18. At first it was just dance technique classes but after I graduated college I added “group exercise instructor” to my list of jobs and in addition to dance classes started teaching step aerobics, strength training, mat Pilates, yoga, and “Dancers Workout”. (Any old 24 Hour Fitness members out there remember this format?)

Not surprisingly I totally loved all of it. Also not surprisingly the class that I really excelled at teaching and enjoyed the most was the dance-based workout class.

Fast-forward nearly a decade and although I’ve realized I’m not cut out for step aerobics I am still very happily teaching a dance workout class a couple times a week. These days my class is called Dance Conditioning and it is a format I designed based off of my 25 years as a Modern dancer with a strong influence from Pilates technique.

I’ve wanted to share this class with you for quite a while as it is hands down the best workout I’ve found for my body. My hips, thighs, abs, and arms are leaner and more defined than they’ve ever been thanks to my twice a week Dance Conditioning class.

Seriously.

I’ve spent years of my life dancing hours and hours a day. I’ve trained for and completed a marathon. I was a whitewater raft guide for four years. I’ve done hundreds of squats a week (back when I was teaching a ton of strength training). I’ve been a bike commuter. None of those things had anything on the results I’ve gotten from Dance Conditioning.

As a modern dancer I have no problem being barefoot to workout and shoe-less is what I recommend in my class; socks are to slippery and shoes don’t allow the full articulation of the foot (and they make balancing easier, which is actually bad in this case because when your balance is challenged so is your core). I rarely do reviews on this blog but when I had the opportunity to check out Reebok’s True Studio Slipper #livewithfire campaign as a FitFluential Ambassador I jumped on it.

Initially I wasn’t crazy about the colors and the fade on these little slippers but once I put them on I changed my mind and kinda liked the brightness and variation.

I put them to the test while teaching Dance Conditioning a few days ago.

They felt great! The slippers were a tiny bit sticky but I was still able to slide my feet together (to activate the inner thighs!) and they fit like a glove. My feet didn’t sweat thanks to the innovative fabric (although the rest of me did by the end!) and I quickly forgot I was even wearing them, a great alternative to slippery socks or restrictive shoes.

They worked great for Dance Conditioning but I think where I’ll use my True Studio Slippers most is while doing yoga on the road. The little bit of grip, paired with the lightweight feel, is perfect for om’ing away from home.

Twice a week I have the privilege of teaching Dance Conditioning at ACAC, my local gym, but at the beginning of March I had an extra special opportunity to teach it at the American College Dance Festival at George Mason University. Over 50 college dance majors crowded into my assigned studio and plie’d their way into a wonderful sweat! They ate it up! Many of them came to me afterward and asked if I had any videos online so they could keep doing this workout. As requested I am working on getting some Dance Conditioning videos up my the Gracefulfitness Facebook page, stay tuned!

Have you jumped on the barre workout trend? If so do you prefer to dance-workout with shoes, socks, slippers, or barefoot?

I’m thinking of starting a Gracefulfitness YouTube channel, any thoughts?

I hurt my back. Bad. Well, maybe not so bad because 6 days later and I’m feeling 80% better. Those first three days were intense though. Lots of moaning, lots of crying, lots of fear that I’d never get better. I can be a little dramatic perhaps but fo real, it was bad. Definitely bad enough to sideline my February One Hour Plank Challenge.

In case you missed it, at the beginning of the month I announced that I was going to do an hour of plank throughout February and invited one and all to join me. The premise was (is) simple; 3 times a week perform a 5 minute plank workout and after 4 weeks you’ve done an hour of plank! By the way, “5 minute plank workout” means doing many sets of plank to equal an hour, I have no interest in staying up there for 5 minutes non-stop!

Today is scheduled as day 11 out of 12 but I haven’t planked since last Wednesday. Hopefully I’ll be back on the horse by Friday but in the interim I thought I’d consolidate the links for the workouts from the first 8 days of the challenge. For each workout day I made a little video and plan that I posted on Facebook, here they are.

I’ve loved this challenge and am really looking forward to getting back to it! Wanna help? I have a few more plank tricks up my sleeve but would love to learn some more, please let me know what your favorite plank variation is and it might just become Day Nine’s workout!

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Hi, I'm Faith! New? Check out I Am for my story, I Cook for recipes, and I Move for some motivation to get moving! I'd love to hear from you, e-mail me gracefulfitness@live.com
Header photo: Meredith Coe